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As the writer behind Training Day and the helmer of Street Kings and Harsh Times, David Ayer‘s clearly got a deep and abiding interest in the LAPD. So it’s no surprise that his latest directorial effort, End of Watch, centers around that same theme.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña star as a pair of young officers assigned to some of Los Angeles’ roughest neighborhoods. Though the guys are used to being targeted — as one of them says, “We’re cops, everyone wants to kill us” — when they stumble upon a dangerous discovery, they find themselves in the crosshairs of a drug cartel. Watch the trailer after the jump.

Find it hard to keep up with what films are casting and which actors and actress are doing what? You’re not the only one. It’s all but impossible to keep up with everything, which is why we bring you Casting Bits. Today we’ve got a bunch of big names in smaller movies, a few studio productions sprinkled in and then a couple we missed in recent days. After the jump read about:

Glee star Darren Criss has landed a part in Imogene, a dark comedy by American Splendor directors Shari Springer Bergman and Robert Pulcini. The Michelle Morgan-penned script revolves around a New York playwright (Kristen Wiig) who fakes a suicide in order to get her ex-boyfriend’s attention. Instead of winning him back, however, she winds up forced to move in with her gambling-addicted “tacky Jersey Shore mother” (Annette Bening).

Criss will play “a younger love interest” who catches the eye of Wiig’s character, but let’s be real — the really intriguing bit of info here is the fact that Bening will be, as Vulture put it, “channel[ing] Snooki” to play “the mother who’s a little inappropriate all the time.” Shooting for the project will begin in New York City this summer. [ThePlaylist]

After the jump, Frank Grillo picks up two new roles on either side of the law, and Patricia Clarkson gets ready to scare the living daylights out of Ron Fucking Swanson.

David Ayers wrote and will direct End of Watch, which already has Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena cast as two LAPD officers who “confront marriage, love, fatherhood and the harsh realities of the Los Angeles streets.” Now Anna Kendrick and Natalie Martinez (Detroit 1-8-7) are in talks to play the respective love interests in the movie. We don’t have too many more details on End of Watch, but the film shoots later this summer. [Variety]

After the break, a total change of pace into horror as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 co-star Bill Mosely gets a role in Leatherface 3D, but not the same role he played in Chainsaw 2. And Adam Scott books two new comedy roles. Read More »